Military equipment



A, A. LETHERN.

MILITARY EQUIPMENT. APPL'ICATION FILED ocT. 29. I917.

1,383,31 5. Patented y 5, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

W @Cum [72 vendor:-

A. A. LETHERN.

MILITARY EQUIPMENT.

urumnou HLED on. 29, 1911.

Patented July 5, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- 'PQ ENT OFFICE.

UNITED snares ALBERT ALEXANDER LETHERN, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, 'ASSIGNOR, BY MEsNE A ASSIGNMENTS, T0 MILLS BELT, coMrANY, 0E wononsrnamnssaonusnmrs,

A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

MILITARY EQUIPMENT.

- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 5, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT ALEXANDER LETHERN, a citizen of Great Britain, residing at London, England, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Military Equipments, of which the following'is a specification, reference being bad therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to military equipments and is more particularly an improvement upon such a combination of intrenching tool pocket and water-bottle carrier as is described in the specification of British Patcnt No. 1d,328/12. In the construction described in the said British patent the pocket in which the tool is carried was formed integralwith the water bottlecarrier, the latter being arranged on; the inner side of the tool pocket, both the tool pocket and the water-bottle being suspended from the same pairof straps which were connected to the bottle carrier. In the present invention this structure has been modified so as to enable the water-bottle to be detachably mounted upon the tool pocket, so that one of these articles only may be carried if necessary.

According to this invention the pocket in which the intrenching tool is disposed is adapted to be suspended asheretofore from the pendant ends of brace members which form part of the equipment, and a waterbottle carrier of suitable construction is detachably mounted on one face of the-tool pocket by attaching the bottom of the water bottle carrier by means of a strap and buckle or other suitable connector to the face of the tool; pocket while the upper part of the water-bottle carrier is suspended from the,

sameends of the brace members to which the tool pocket is attached.

V The accompanying drawings'illustrate an embodiment of the. invention in the preferredform. In these drawings,

Figure 1 is an elevation showing the tool from a continuous strip of material folded on itself so that the two parts A, A, lie facing each other, with their ends brought together. At the bottom of the pocket,

within the fold in the material, is placed .a

formed. The edges A are at an angle with relation to the parallel edges A and may be slightly curved and are so arranged that when the edges A of the opposite walls of the pocket are united the pocket, about its center is given a certain fullness soas to allow of the extra'space required for the head C of the tool, the thickness of which is somewhat greaterrthan the other parts of the tool. The whole of the pocket is] lined with suitable material D, preferably 1 canvas, whichcovers the greater part of the metal end-piece B and extends, to the edges of the pocket. It is desirable and structurally more convenient not to carry the lining over the whole of the bottom part of the,

metal end-piece B but to'leave an opening at the bottom of the lining throughwhich the end of the intrenching tool can pass and bear directly upon the metal of the endpiece B. Thus thewear and chafe of the end of the tool are taken directly by the metalf'piece B. The juxtaposed side-margins of the folded strip; are conveniently secured together by sewing. The fasteningforthesides of the pocket at the two upper corners is preferably reinforced by one or more rivets A which offer additional resistance to any tendency for the opening or mouth of, the pocketvto be torn at the corners. Asfithus far explained, the constructionforms no, 1

part ofthe subject-matter claimed herein but constitutes a separate invention.

At each upper corner of the pocket is mounted a buckle E carriedon a short strap E attached by sewing to one .face of the,

pocket, preferably that face which is in-. tended to lie nextthe wearer. These buc klesc Emare adapted to be engaged by the ends Flof sling or brace members forming parts of the main equipment with which the tool pocket is to be used. It will be noted that the tool is intended to be inserted in the pocket in such a way that the curve in the tool causes thebottom of the pocket to be outwardly directed away from the wearer,

the buckle-carrying straps E being thus mounted on what may be termed the inner face or back wall of the tool pocket. On the fronttwall of the pocket and about its center is attached by sewing or otherwise a short strap G. Also on the front wall of the pocket but toward one' 'edge are placed'two Water-bottle, across the bottom of the latter and up the other side thereof, each end of this strap having attached thereto a buckle L. 'Another strap L extends "down the front of thebottle, under its bottom, and up at'the back thereof, oneend being carried outward over the shoulder of the bottle by the side of the neck andhaving mounted on its extremity one member of a snap fastener L the other member of such fastener being combined with the top end of the front portion of the strap L A third strap If passes around the upper part of theibottle, this strap L? being connected by sewing or otherwise to the straps L, and L Thestrap L may be stiffened in some suitable manner,

for example by oneor more extra layers of V The free end'of the strapf material at the sides of the bottle where this strap crosses andis connected to the strap 'L. Where the straps L and L cross each other at the bottom of the bottle these straps are connected by sewin or otherwise.

bottle K to be kept in place in the carrier and removed when desired, skeleton water-bottle carrier of similar construction is well'known and in useat the present time. In conformity with theinventiomat the bottom of the skeleton carrier is disposed a buckle M carriedon a short strap sewn or otherwise secured to the strap L The buckle M is adapted to be engaged by the outer portion of the outstanding strap G I which latter is mounted by one end thereof a 55.

on the face of the tool pocket A. The buckles L are intended to be engaged by the ends of the sling or brace members F, the buckles L being brought close up against the buckles E by which the tool pocket is connected to the sling members F. If desired, the buckle M may be mounted on the face of the tool pocket and the strapG at tached to the bottom ofthe bottle carrier.

: It will thus beseen that the water-bottle, which is disposed in a carrier which enables enables the r it to be slung and used separately, can when required be securely mounted on the face of the tool pocket in a manner which allows the water-bottle to be readily accessible and easily removed. The manner of mounting the Water-bottle is simple in that it involves theaddition of only one strap, namely the strap G, on the tool pocket and one buckle,

namely the buckle M, on the bottom of the bottle carrier, or vice versa, The bucklesL serve for the purpose of holding the upper part of the water-bottle against the upper 4 part of the tool pocket without directly connecting the two together, these buckles L ifthe bot-.

tle is to be carried separately being em-' tent as the tool pocket is conveniently) slung on the right-hand side of the wearer.

It will be seen that with the tool pocke disposed between the bottle and the person of the wearer of the equipment the bottom of the pocket-curves outwardly beneath the bottom of'the water-bottle. If desired the position of carrying these articles may be re versed and the water-bottle may be arranged next the wearer with the tool pocket outside. With that arrangement the water-bottle maintainsthe tool pocket at a suflicient' distance fromthe leg of the wearer to prevent the inward curve of the bottom of the pocket from being in the way. When the'water-bottle is thus carried the ends of the sling members F are first passed through the buckles L by which thewater-bottle is slung. The ends of these straps F are then passed 'throu hyt'he buckles E attached to the tool pocket. n this arrangement the tool pocket which lies on the outside must be removed'first if it is desired to separate it from the watersbottl'e.

W oven fabric may be used in the construe tion of the several straps and loops, though leather or other material may be used if preferred for some or all of these parts. The structure of the water-bottle carrier may be varied without involving any departure from the invention. In any case however the bot V In military and thelike equipment, the com-g bination with brace or suspender members, and a pocket having at its top oppositely located buckles which adjustably and detachably engage the extremities of said members, of a carrier having at opposite sides of its top buckles also engaging similarly with the said extremities, and separate means for connecting the lower portion of the carrier with the pocket, comprising a strip and buckle, one thereof connected with the pocket and the other with the lower portion ofthe carrier, and adapted to be 10 disengaged from each other without other fastening means being disturbed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ALBERT ALEXANDER LETHERN.

Witnesses:

W. J. FRANKs, R. HERITAGE. 

